Ivan Aprahamian Wins International Chemistry Prize

February 24, 2016by Joseph Blumberg

Associate Professor of Chemistry Ivan Aprahamian is best known for his work on molecular switches. “Among potential applications, we want to use our light-activated switches in fine-tuning the efficacy of anticancer drugs,” he says. (Photo by Eli Burakian ’00)

The CLP prize, named in honor of the three chemists who shared a 1987 Nobel Prize—Donald J. Cram of the U.S., Jean-Marie Lehn of France, and Charles J. Pedersen, also of the U.S.— is sponsored by the Royal Society of Chemistry journal ChemComm, and recognizes significant, original and independent work in supramolecular chemistry by emerging investigators (supramolecular chemists who are within 10 years of having received their PhD). A supramolecular chemist is one who creates tools that operate at a level where molecules can recognize each other, interact, and assemble into larger functional units to perform novel tasks.

“I am humbled and honored,” says Aprahamian. “This is the most important prize in the field of supramolecular chemistry for someone at my stage, career-wise. It is also an international recognition of the excellent research my group members have been doing the past eight years, and a testimony of their contribution to the advancement of the field.”

Aprahamian is best known for his work on molecular switches. “Among potential applications, we want to use our light-activated switches in fine-tuning the efficacy of anticancer drugs,” he says. Aprahamian will be traveling to South Korea in July to give his award lecture at the 11th International Symposium on Macrocyclic and Supramolecular Chemistry.